1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile terminal for radio communication. More particularly, the present invention relates to a GPS-enabled mobile terminal and current position location method thereof for quickly acquiring current position of the mobile terminal quickly while reducing power consumption.
2. Description of the Related Art
Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based positioning system that is operational in every part of the Earth. Recently, the integration of a GPS receiver into a mobile terminal is becoming increasingly popular. A GPS-enabled mobile terminal can determine its position using the GPS data received from at least three GPS satellites. The GPS-enabled mobile terminal can be configured to send the location information obtained by using the GPS data to a designated mobile terminal periodically by means of a message. Also, the GPS data is included in the SOS message that is transmitted to a preset phone number when an SOS button is pushed on the mobile terminal supporting an SOS function. Not only does such functionality benefit the individual user, because businesses are now starting to monitor employment movement in field offices by GPS, and having an employees portable terminal relay such information back to a monitoring station is improving efficiency of operations.
The GPS receiver of the mobile terminal can be set to operate in continuous running mode in which the GPS receiver runs continuously or in a discontinuous running mode in which the GPS receiver is activated when position location is required. In the continuous running mode, the GPS receiver consumes power continuously, but disadvantageously causes the battery of the mobile terminal to be discharged quickly. On the other hand, the discontinuous running mode is advantageous in terms of power consumption but disadvantageously causes a delay for locating the current position of the mobile terminal. The position locating delay of the discontinuous running mode can cause a significant problem in the case of an emergency. In fact, if something happens to the person carrying the portable terminal, that, for example, that causes the portable terminal to be exposed to, for example, water, the last reported location in an emergency could be sufficiently different from the current location to create a serious problem in locating the individual.